WBC at it Again, This Time They Will Target Civilians

Our wonderful friends of the Westboro Baptist Church have released plans to picket an upcoming prayer vigil for the victims of the tragic shooting Friday morning in Aurora, Colorado. We are all accustom to hearing about their brand of bigoted religiosity and their perverted interpretations of the Bill of Rights when it comes to the military. This time however, they are bringing their venom to bear on the civilian population that we all swore an oath to protect when we joined the military.

Time and time again, volunteers have willingly placed themselves, in massive human walls, between these monsters and the grieving family members of our fallen comrades. Many, if not most of these volunteers have been members of our civilian population. They gather for our comrades and their families, they take their time to say thank you in their own way, more often than not never having met anyone related to the service member. It is their way of showing respect and solidarity in the face of what is wrong with our freedoms.

It would be a flagrant violation of regulations to show up in uniform to stand tall in a human wall. Would it not be nice though to see hundreds of service members show up and give one last defense of the victims before they are laid to rest? I can only hope that members of the military that are stationed in Colorado can band together and place themselves in the way, in the same way many civilians have supported us over the last decade.

One of the things that truly amazes me about this country is the complete inclusiveness that is experienced in the aftermath of tragedy. It does not matter what your religious beliefs are, what your sexuality is, what color, race or any other normally exclusive factor you can find; Americans, real Americans, come through for those in need. They do it at the grass roots level and they come together simply because that is what we do.

I hope to see in the coming days the monstrous response I expect in stark contrast to what miniscule protest WBC is normally capable of producing. Americans standing together in protest of what we all know is wrong. That is what gained us our independence and what has spurred change through our short history as a republic. It is what will sustain us through changes we still need to make and lend voice to conquer what we know to be wrong.

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I know nothing of the regulations that govern our brave people in the military, but just to hear you talk of how it would be a violation for members of the military to show up in uniform to defend the innocent from such hatred makes me sick to my stomach. I do not know why such regulations are in place, all I do know is that it just is not right. I do hope that at least if nothing else there can be a presence of military members even if not in uniform to show that there is still some humanity in the world despite WBC.

There are very valid reasons that we cannot use our uniform for public appearances, this is actually a great example of the most important one. Every member in uniform is representative of the service they are in, we are ambassadors of the representation and “perceived” polices of the service and/or Department of Defense as a whole. The military is first and foremost chartered to support and defend the Constitution of the United States. Looking at it from the Phelps family’s misguided notions of right and wrong, for any one member of any military service to show up in protest of their picketing, would give the appearance of that service and/or the government it represents sanctioning the denial of their civil liberties.

It is indeed quite confusing, especially when locally here we have a soldier who repeatedly skirts the line in how he represents his views and events, all without a public appearance of any reprisal from his chain of command. We as protectors of the freedoms must remain neutral in our representations while in uniform. We are however free to appear as “civilians” in plain clothes provided we do not bring our service into it. That is also one of the reasons why any blog I post that has any connection to the military, military policy and such is fronted with a disclaimer stating that the opinions are mine and mine alone and in no way represent the Army or DoD.

I am confident that if the WBC does indeed attempt to picket that there will be a multitude of military members in the opposing audience, active duty, trainee, and retired. Sure bet the Patriot Guard will make their bike roar as well.

I am a very firm believer in freedom of speech, even when it makes me uncomfortable. WBC is one of those situations that really makes me question my beliefs. I have to continually re-assure myself that freedom of speech is good, even if these people abuse it.

They also challenge my belief that stupid people don’t need to be beat on.

Unfortunately, giving them a real beating is what they are looking for. Even though it would feel good to dole one out. Congress, surprise, surprise, is actually looking at limiting their activities by law, not completely so as to be “unConstitutional” but to give mourners a semblance of security.